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Rescue effort eases pain of the past
 Balancing act: A woman climbs back inside with the help of SGT Chan, secured by PC Choi. Pic: Apple Daily |
Sergeant Chan Yuk-kwan recently overcame a nightmarish sense of deja vu when a young woman tried to take her life in front of his out-reached hands.
The Hong Kong Island Emergency Unit Platoon Two officer prevented a woman from jumping to her death on October 18, some eight years after he was tragically unable to save a teenage girl in a similar situation.
Spun-out on drugs, the teenager fell to her death in a Chai Wan housing estate after a desperate effort by SGT Chan to rescue her from a building ledge. The memory of her falling before his eyes has haunted him since.
"The girl was on drugs and, unfortunately, I was unable to pull her to safety. I saw her fall to her death and it really hurt me. I think what happened this time around has really helped me feel better," he said.
The SGT and three Police Constables, Chan Wing-cheong, Choi Sek-hun and Leung Wai-kwong were patrolling Tai Hong Street in Shau Kei Wan when they were told a woman was sitting at the window of a nearby flat.
"Although there were so many flats in the building, we managed to quickly locate the woman and the owner of the adjacent flat let us in. PC Choi tied a rope around my waist, grasped my belt and braced against the window frame so I could go out on a small rack and approach the woman," SGT Chan said. Perched on the small pot-plant rack he gently talked to the woman, upset over family problems, and calmed her down.
But suddenly she slipped from the window to a canopy which was less than 30-centimetres wide and about to break.
Heeding SGT Chan's pleas she scrambled back inside the flat with his help. The SGT said teamwork was the most essential element in the operation. "PCs Chan, Choi and Leung and I have been working together in EU HKI for quite some time. We know each other so well that in an emergency like this, each one of us can play our roles without fuss."